Dom’s group is no exception to the old time resurgence. In fact, they got together when Tony Thomas made a Yahoo group back in 2005 called Black Banjo Players Then and Now. The group grew so quickly, Thomas soon set up an in-person meeting for the members of the e-mail list so that everyone could be in the same room.
Of that gathering, Flemons says: "For years, there’s been an interest in black people playing stringband or blues music. That [interest] has just been looming in the background for quite a while, because ... the modern practitioners are mostly white. But at that gathering, people got to see they weren’t the only one. I think there were 16 [of us] all together. There were also a lot of the folklorists there, like Mike Seeger was there, Rud Fletcher, C.C. Connolly ... but, yeah. We all walked away from that gathering feeling lighter than air. You can find out more about all that on blackbanjo.com."
Sankofa Strings
Out of that gathering came Sankofa Strings—a gathering of musicians that included Chocolate Drops Rhiannon Giddens and Sule Greg Wilson, as well as some other artists local to North Carolina. Sankofa is a West African word meaning "Go back and fetch it," which Flemons says was apropos of the sort of music Sankofa Strings was playing. "It was that sort of let's go back and bring some of that tradition and music back up."Around that time, Flemons moved to North Carolina. He had come from eight years of busking and playing music solo, juggling instrumental skills on banjo, guitar, harmonica, bones, jug and snare drum. Sankofa eventually evolved into the Carolina Chocolate Drops (with banjo player Rhiannon Giddens, fiddler Justin Robinson, and Flemons on buitar, banjo, harmonica, jug, snare drum and vocals; Sule Greg Wilson joins in sometimes).
"We started playing around town," he says. "It was a lot of school shows in North Carolina and then Kentucky ... the energy there was just so strong, we had to keep doing it."
African-Americans in Traditional Music
Now, a couple of years after the Black Banjo Players' gathering, Flemons still feels the excitement about the resurgence of the African-American presence in traditional music. "It's like what O Brother, Where Art Thou did for the mainstream. I think the academic world is starting to bring out this [African-American traditional music community] ... there are [stereotypes] people have that get broken down when they look at the banjo and music from the black community."
Music Maker Relief Foundation
Another group that has taken notice is the Music Maker Relief Foundation, which raises money for older musicians and has recently released an enhanced version of the Chocolate Drops CD Dona Got A Ramblin' Mind (compare prices). On it, the group rambles through over a dozen old time classics, including stand-out tunes "Starry Crown," "Sourwood Mountain," and "Short Life of Trouble." Instrumentally, the trio is tighter than tight with an energy level on record that's usually only attainable in live performance.In addition to watching his group get more well-known in the national old time scene, Flemons admits he was flummoxed when he found out Taj Mahal is a fan. "It’s so surreal," he says, "when someone calls you and says Taj Mahal likes your album and he wants you to call him." And when Flemons called Taj, did the veteran artist offer any advice? "Oh, yes," recalls Flemons. "He said, make sure they don’t change you. That’s the great thing, that all the people we’ve met just want us to stay true to ourselves and not get messed with."
For more on the Carolina Chocolate Drops and a list of their tour dates, visit their official Web site.
